Unlike in land casinos where only VIP players are awarded with comps, in online gambling every new player to an online casino is rewarded up front in the form of a sign-up or welcome bonus. Just about all best online casinos in the UK offer bonuses, for instance.

These bonuses effectively allow players to play for longer and thus increase their chances of winning. Normally, the higher a player’s deposit, the higher the bonus. However, it is important to note that all online casino bonuses come with their own sets of rules or terms and conditions.

It is every player’s responsibility to carefully read and understand the casinos’ terms and conditions before depositing money into a casino. There have been many instances reported where players have willingly accepted a free casino bonus and run into trouble when they’ve attempted to withdraw their winnings a few days later, due to not reading the terms and conditions.

The majority of online gambling bonuses came with ‘wagering‘ or ‘play thru‘ criteria. This means that upon accepting a bonus, a player is required to bet or gamble the bonus money, and sometimes total playing money, a specified number of times before it can be withdrawn.

For example, in some casinos, players are required to wager their money 10 times. This means that if they deposit $100 and receive a $100 bonus, their total playing money is $200. Before they can withdraw any money at all, they have to play the $200 ten times over, meaning they need to bet a total of $2000!

The bottom line when gambling online is to pick the most lucrative signup bonuses and understand the accompanying terms and conditions. Also remember, you don’t have to accept a sign-up bonus if you don’t want to.